


Garden of Shadows

by SilverButterfly111



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enemies Allied, Fae & Fairies, Fae Magic, M/M, Multi, Seelie Court, Unseelie Court
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-18 03:29:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21970930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverButterfly111/pseuds/SilverButterfly111
Summary: "I'm not going to let anything hurt you, Aster...Pitch just wants to talk to you."The hope that Aster had taken from Jack turns bitter on his tongue like rotten fruit.The taste of...Fear. His own, not Jack's."Pitch Black?"Jack doesn't look afraid at the mention of fear itself. Aster hasn't met anyone who hadn't shuddered at the name of the Shadow King.
Relationships: E. Aster Bunnymund/Jack Frost, Jack Frost/Pitch Black
Comments: 7
Kudos: 102





	Garden of Shadows

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AcornScorn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AcornScorn/gifts).



> A Secret Santa gift for acornscorns on Tumblr!

Aster brushed a finger gently across the leaf of the snowdrop. Expecting the pang of longing in his chest that the soft white petals bring. Half imagined echoes of laughter that reaches his ears in March and disappear in the middle of November.

Jack always leaves the day before the first winter snowfall and comes back with the last gust of Northern wind. Aster spends the coldest months out of the year more or less alone. Waiting for the blooming of the Snowdrops that promise spring and hope And Jack.

The thin green leaves of the plant curl towards his fingers on their own accord. Responding to his touch. To his magic. It offers little comfort. He'll never admit it to Jack, but Aster misses Australia. Misses warmth and beaches and strange animals.

The mountains and lakes and woods of this little town called Burgess are far more appealing when Jack is with him but he wouldn't ever admit that to Jack either. He's worried it will sound too much like he wants to leave and he doesn't- not really- He's far too attached to Jackson Overland.

The woods aren't that bad anyway, there's far too few green places left on the planet to begin with. But he's not a fool. The woods on the edge of Burgess are dangerous. Especially after sunset.

Every now and then kids go missing if they walk around after dark. He knows Unseelie territory when he feels it.

Little envious thoughts take hold like weeds in his mind and he tries to pull them out by the roots. He looks to the moon in an effort to ignore the darkness.

"Please come home, Jack." Aster begs because there's no one around to hear him. Or so he thinks.

"Careful what you wish for, Cottontail."

Aster turned so fast that he nearly backhanded the potted Snowdrop plant from the wooden railing to an untimely death against the sidewalk four stories below.

"Jack!" Aster hissed at the slender fingers that reach out to right the ceramic pottery when the Aussie's bigger hands simply put the treasured bulb more at risk.

"Jeez you jumped six feet." Jack snickered. Tone holding an undercurrent of concern. "You usually hear me coming."

"Snowdrop," Aster exclaimed in anger and relief. Turning away from the plant and towards the brown-haired young man whom bore the same as a term of affection. Though Aster can't quite be sure why it's that name that stuck.

Jack grinned and allowed the silent glance up and down even if he did roll his eyes a moment later when Aster can't withhold. "Where have you been?"

"Here and there." Is the usually vague reply. Bright blue eyes sparkling with mischief and amusement in equal measure as he smirks.

"It's been almost two weeks after you usually come back and it's nearly dark out Jack." Aster protests. Subconsciously making sure none of his protective wards have been altered or damaged. He's exhausted, distressed and too drained then he'd care to admit.

Aster turned back to the woods. Intent on ignoring Jack until he gets a more solid answer. He can  _ feel  _ Jack's pout.

"I'm sorry I'm late." Jack doesn't say why. Aster doesn't ask. 

"I got...stuck-"

"Stuck where?" Aster finally pushes his luck. "Don't lie to me Jack, you know I hate liars."

He feels the thin wiry arms that have wrapped themselves around his waist flex slightly when Jack flinched.

The silence stretches on and it's another waiting game. To see who can wait until one of them drops the subject first.

"Jack!"

The arms around Aster's waist go loose with a sigh that brings to mind a gentle winter breeze. Or maybe he just draws such comparisons because he sees the petals of the Snowdrop sway in such a thing a moment later.

He's got a feeling he doesn't like where this is going...has a feeling that he  _ knows… _

__ "...The woods…" Jack finally managed to push the words out.

Aster spins around so fast that Jack yelps and takes an instinctive step back against the weight of hands on his shoulders.

"Are you crazy? Jack, the woods are dangerous!"

"I can understand why some people might be afraid but it's not like I have a choice! I've got family there Aster. And its cold and dark and creepy sometimes but that was the deal!"

Aster thinks of the world in terms of colors; right then the human expression of 'seeing red' is a rather accurate term to describe the way he can feel the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

Fae make deals.

Unseelie make deals.

"Jack, if you've gotten yourself mixed up with-"

"It's not what you think...I'm...terrible at explaining...will you just...trust me?"

Aster wants to scream. He should  _ never _ have trusted Jack in the first place! His green eyes narrowed and Jack flinched again. Itching his arm like he's made the mistake of touching poison ivy.

"No."

Jack looks heartbroken but unsurprised all at once. He doesn't do anything when Aster takes his hands of his shoulders, doesn't stop him from side stepping and walking around Jack as if he's not there. It's when the door to the small balcony squeaks and clicks open that Jack finally turned to face him.

"Aster Bunnymund." 

He goes stiff. He doesn't want to turn around but he can't not. There's a cord that's wrapped itself around his focus. And pulling his attention to Jack even if he can feel the rest of his body physically fighting it. And here he thought that him listening to Jack had just been the younger man's undeniably charismatic charm.

The truth feels like a betrayal even though he knows deep down that part of him had always known.

Jackson Overland is Fae.

Aster's given his true name to a fae of the Unseelie Court.

"You wouldn't come with me if I asked, would you?" Jack whispered. The very edge of his voice hopeful. Aster latches onto the emotion on instinct. Emotions are energy. Energy is what keeps them alive. It's how they live, the both of them. Though Aster doesn't know what emotions Jack uses to feed his own life force.

Probably nothing good if he's allied with the Unseelie…

Jack gives the emotion willing if a little hesitantly.

It tastes better when people believe in him. Know what he truly is.

And Aster takes it like a starving man.

"I'm not going to let anything hurt you, Aster...Pitch just wants to talk to you."

The hope that Aster had taken from Jack turns bitter on his tongue like rotten fruit.

The taste of... _ Fear _ . His own, not Jack's.

"Pitch Black?"

Jack doesn't look afraid at the mention of fear itself. Aster hasn't met anyone who hadn't shuddered at the name of the Shadow King.

The blue-eyed Fae simply nodded at whatever expression fear has put on Aster's normally stern facial features.

_ Pitch Black. _ ..He has nothing to say to the King of Nightmares. The king of the Unseelie Court. He's done nothing wrong, he hasn't gone into the woods. He hasn't muttered ill-fated curses under his breath. He's done nothing that could offend the Unseelie.

_ Why would Pitch want to talk to him? _

There's dark envy in his thoughts again. 

He's no fool, Pitch is a powerful force. The leader of the Shadow Court feeds on fear. Everyone knows that. And there's plenty of fear to go around in the world today even if the knowledge of the fae courts has turned to myth in modern memory. Aster doesn't want power. He just wants to keep himself alive and hope is harder to find these days then it used to be.

...And he can't refuse a nearly direct summons to the enemy Court. That'd be as good as signing his own death warrant.

"Take me to the woods then." Aster nods and Jack grinned bright as winter moonlight. Aster knows then that it's his own will that made him speak the words.

****

The shadows of the bare trees reach towards the darkened sky like skeletons fingers trying to claw themselves out of the grave. When Jack steps through the invisible border without a flinch Aster stops short and watches as mouse brown hair turns white as bone and snow, shimmering silver like ash when he tilts his head. The way he always has when he's curious. His blue eyes turning bright and dark. Taking on the depths of water in Antarctica. Or as clear and blue as he thinks they'd be. Aster's never seen them.

Skin that had been human-pale has undertones of blue bleeding through. Lingering just below the surface.

Jack is glowing. His bright aura of power shining through as he sheds his glamour.

He turns to face Aster fully. Sighing as though he hasn't breathed air in years.

The teeth in his mouth are still as white as they've ever been- but Aster also notes that they have become subtly sharper and he can't tell if he's imagining it or not.

It's still his Jack...and he's breath-taking...but he also lied…

As if sensing Aster's hesitation resurface, Jack reaches out slender fingers.

"I know I lied but I promise I'll do my best to protect you...no more secrets."

And Aster trusts him. He would trust him even if Unseelie can lie. No Fae can break promises.

Aster takes Jack's hand and the wind and shadows swallow the pair without a sound…

Aster grips at the branches of the closest tree he can dig his fingers into. Waiting for the spinning to stop.

Jack isn't as easily disoriented.

"We have to walk from here." He speaks. Ducking underneath a tree branch and skirting around the edge of a half frozen lake. Stopping to look at it for a moment as though he's entirely unconcerned about what he's gotten Aster into…Or what Jack himself might risk by bringing Aster here.

Jack waltzed on near-silent footsteps through the undergrowth. Aster always manages to keep him in sight.

The hole in the Earth comes upon them so suddenly that Bunny is sure that the Earth has grown a maw just to swallow them up.

Jack set his shoulders and marched into the darkness, unafraid.

The hair on the back of Aster's neck rises. He can sense things watching him In the ink thick blackness every time he dared a glance away from the light on the tip of Jack's staff that bounces up and down like a willo-the-wisp with the rhythm of Jack's footsteps even if its too dark to see anything else down here. He has to rely on hearing and touch and smell more than what he can see. The latter of which is extremely unfortunate because there's just the faintest smell of rot buried in the dirt….

Aster forces his wandering mind to watch the light in front of him again. He can't trust anything. Least of all his mind. This place plays tricks on the mind.

The muted gray light that Aster is led into is a far cry from the sun or even the moonlight but he exhaled in relief regardless. Until he saw the golden eyes staring him down from the shadow. It feels eerily reminiscent of being watched by a wolf.

"I'm rather impressed with you." 

It takes Aster a moment to realize that the gray-skinned fae sitting on the throne of shadows is probably speaking to Jack and not him even though he isn't looking at the white-haired sprite.

"I told you he'd come eventually." Jack answered. As if it's a simple bet they'd made. Aster resists the urge to turn around and march away from the both of them.

Jack left Aster's side quicker than a blink, and going to stand on the other side of the room. It makes Aster tense but when his beloved takes a place next to the right of the Shadow King's throne. He turns to face Aster again and he can't see any malice in blue eyes, or even gold ones that he was so quick to compare to that of wolves.

"Jack has spoken very highly of you." 

Out of all the things Aster had been expecting to hear from Pitch Black. This was the furthest thing…

"He's told you about me?"

"Of course I have." Jack rolled his eyes affectionately. The edge of his voice amused.

Aster feels oddly flattered. He knows he shouldn't but he does.

"He's told me that you're gifted with Chlorokinesis-" 

"You knew!?"

Aster sputtered, turning shocked green eyes to Jack once again. The little imp tilted his head and laughed outright.

"You're horribly incapable of keeping secrets Bunny!"

The Aussie man curled his fists at his side and glares. Turning to Pitch.

"What do you want from me?" Aster demands past gritted teeth.

The shadows circling around the Unseelie King's feet begin writhing like snakes that want to strike but Pitch's voice is oddly calm as he replies.

"Indulge me a demonstration of your powers and then you can leave if you wish. It's been too long a time since I've heard of anyone capable of such things; and while I trust Jack not to lie…seeing is believing."

"And then I can leave this place." Aster repeats. Wanting to be absolutely clear that he can go back the way he'd come. That he won't be trapped inside the Earth forever.

"If that's what you want." The King of Nightmares relented.

Aster takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. Listening to the Earth move and breathe and grow and die beneath his feet. Above his head. Around him. He senses the cold wind and snow and bright sunlight that is Jack.

The deep patient darkness that is Pitch.

He feels everything that is or has been a part of the Earth. It has never been this easy to use his powers, it's as though he's at the heart of the world itself.

Roots and vines curl up around his feet. Slithering across the dirt despite the lack of sunlight.

"Impressive."

Aster knows this time that the praise from Pitch's mouth is meant for him and he's just as startled to hear it now as when he had briefly mistaken Jack's compliment for his own.

Aster opens green eyes to find them both grinning at him. Jack nearly bouncing on his feet like an excited child.

"I told you!" Jack cried out in glee. Waving a hand at Aster as though he's something unbelievable proved to be flesh and blood.

"Of course you did." Pitch answered.

Aster is going to blame the adrenaline rush of using his powers on the fact that he read the Shadow King's tone as affectionate.

"Imagine what that could accomplish…" The dark fae regarded Aster as if he was a puzzle piece and he's trying to figure out a bigger picture.

Jack stiffened slightly. Fixing Pitch Black with a wary look out of the corner of his eye. Trying to gauge Aster's reaction at the same time.

"Kozmotis," Jack warns, placing a hand firmly on the other fae's thin shoulder.

It takes all of Aster's willpower not to have the shock show on his face and he's not entirely sure he's managed it.

But there's no mistaking the power that hums through the air at the name.

How Jack of all people- came to know the Unseelie King's true name Aster has no possible idea.

Jack continues as though unaware of the magic bond that he's just awakened and revealed.

Even more baffling still is the fact that Pitch doesn't lunge at the hand still on his shoulder and snap it for Jack doing such a thing.

"-agreed not to use him unless he was willing." Jack's tone held warning to tread carefully on thin ice. Aster comes back to his senses when he realizes they're talking about him.

"I didn't say I was going to use his powers against his will." Pitch defended. "I'm merely considering potential." Jack doesn't look entirely convinced of the purity in Pitch's intentions but he sighs and drops the matter. For now at least but Jack can be a pest when he wants to be. That Aster is entirely sure of even if everything else in his world doesn't make sense anymore.

Jack sighed and shook his head as though he's not sure what he's going to do with the both of them.

When did it become the both of them?

"You can contemplate potential, I'm going to see if any of the children want to go back home." Jack is in the threshold of another tunnel before he turned to look at Aster.

"You coming?" He asked. Aster nodded slowly. Blinking somewhat owlishly at Jack before he followed. If only because the alternative is being left alone with Pitch Black and that thought justifiably puts him on edge.

"Koz really isn't all that bad…" Jack pokes at a piece of the situation after they've walked through the tunnels for an amount of time that Aster can't measure.

It's still not enough time for Aster to process.

He scoffs in disbelief.

"Really," Jack insisted. "He's not evil." Jack pauses for a bit, twirling his staff between his fingers as he thinks. "Try more...Morally gray…"

"Jack!" Aster flails his arms in exasperation. "He kidnaps children!"

"And he lets me take them home, those that want to go back at least…"

Aster gives him an unconvinced look but doesn't outright tell him to shut up. So Jack continues.

"Some of them stay, some of them leave, the occasional one or two come back to visit, I should introduce you to Jamie or Cupcake, Pippa Is a lot of fun too-"

"...And you need me because…?" Bunny tried desperately to turn the conversation towards something he might be able to make sense of.

Jack shrugged. "Woods, plants…" 

"I thought it'd be pretty self-explanatory. A few thorns, some undergrowth, trip them up with a couple of vines, that sort of thing." 

"You want me to cause fear?!" Aster bristled.

"Not a lot. Fear is a strong emotion, a little bit of it goes a long way, Pitch has perfected it to an art and not all fear is bad. You act like you've never done anything  _ because  _ it scared you?"

Fine, he had a point there.

"You said you had family-" 

"My sister Flee...she's half mortal but time moves differently here so she'll be with me longer…"

Jack shuffled away from him, wary and decided to change the subject.

"...I don't want to see you fade away Aster...let us give you this chance...the three of us!" Jack holds so much hope in the last part of his rambling that Aster almost feels sick.

"Slow down there, Snowdrop."

Jack blinked. Expression of joy slipping. "Are you still mad? Because I understand but I promised no more secrets and if you want to leave me you can, I know that you're a Seelie Fae, but I don't-"

Aster can see the fear bubble to the surface of Jack's eyes like the last breath of a dying man. Hope that he won't, Fear that he will. That Aster will leave him alone and he'll only have Pitch.

Aster half expected the gray-skinned Fae to materialize out of the dark and snap at Aster for being the cause of such an emotion in Jack who has certainly felt enough in his life with the way he doesn't seem afraid of much else. Besides being alone.

Trust Jack to have a big enough heart to love two creatures as difficult as Aster and Pitch.

Aster knows what it's like to be alone. Maybe not in the way that Pitch and Jack do, but he does understand enough to give Pitch a chance like Jack has.

They're definitely going to bicker a lot, him and Pitch. But if this little plan works out like Jack hopes it will, then they'll have a long time to figure this out.


End file.
